


measured by the size of our hearts

by Quintessence



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: (sorta kinda?? implied marriage proposal?? up to your interpretation), Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Whump, listen someone needs to talk some sense into kurapika & leorio's taking one for the team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 10:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quintessence/pseuds/Quintessence
Summary: "It’s my life, Leorio.  I can use it however I please.”Leorio spins around and looks at Kurapika, his eyes wide and bright.“Did it not occur to you that other people care about that life?” he demands.  “Are you really so insufferably self-centered that you can’t fathom anyone else giving a good goddamn about whether you live or die?”Kurapika accidentally uses up two years of his life with Emperor Time.  Leorio has a few things to say on the matter.





	measured by the size of our hearts

**Author's Note:**

> hello all!!!!! a couple things:
> 
> \- this was based on an amazing prompt i got from a friend on tumblr. i'm still taking whump-themed requests if you'd like to hmu on there. but really, one of my best friends suggested this idea & i've never felt more seen in my life bc this is my whole entire brand.
> 
> \- i have not read the manga. my friends has. he said the prompt is based off something that happened in the manga, but i don't know the exact details, so this may or may not wildly conflict w canon. pls don't come for my life over this. i'm just here to have some fun, y'all.
> 
> \- title is from "good friend" by cloud cult (not the mountain goats????? the nation is shocked)
> 
> \- that's p much it for rn. i hope u enjoy!!!!!

Kurapika wakes slowly. Consciousness comes to him a sensation at a time--scratchy sheets, a lumpy cot, the gentle rocking of the boat on the sea, the scent of antiseptic. It's the smell that gives it away--the sterility of a hospital is unmistakable. He must be in the infirmary. There’s a hazy memory of a battle somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind. He must’ve gotten injured somehow and landed himself here. And of course, if he’s in the infirmary, then that must mean…

“Leorio?” Kurapika asks, managing at last to open his eyes. And there he is, Leorio, in the far corner of the infirmary measuring something out from a vial into a syringe. Kurapika relaxes. If Leorio’s here, certainly he’s in good hands.

“Three hundred and two,” Leorio says nonsensically, not looking up from the vial.

“What was that?” Kurapika asks. He thought there was a slight edge to Leorio’s voice, but perhaps he imagined it.

“Minutes. Three hundred and two minutes.”

No, the edge was most certainly not imagined.

“That’s how long you were using it. Emperor Time,” Leorio continues, still not looking at Kurapika. “You passed out using it & there wasn't anything anyone could do to get you to turn it back off again. So I kept time and then did some calculations while you were out. Three hundred and two minutes, of course, is eighteen thousand and one hundred twenty seconds. Do you want to guess how long eighteen thousand and one hundred twenty hours is?”

“Leorio,” Kurapika groans, covering his eyes with his arm. He’s too dizzy and in too much pain to have this conversation right now.

“It’s over two years, Kurapika. Two fucking years. Two years of your life. Gone.”

Kurapika sighs.

“We’re never going to see eye-to-eye on this,” he replies, tone clipped. “Would you just treat my injuries and let me be on my way?”

“Oh, sure. That’s how it goes between us, doesn’t it? You can go do whatever you please, be as reckless as you want, get as badly injured as you choose, and I’m just always going to be here to patch you up, right?”

Kurapika removes his arm from across his eyes but doesn’t reply. There’s no use trying to reason with him when he’s like this.

“What about the day I decide I’m not going to play that game anymore, huh?" Leorio continues. "The day I’m no longer willing to clean up your messes?”

Kurapika sighs.

“Is it today, Leorio?”

“What?”

“The day you decide you’re no longer willing to ‘clean up my messes.’ Is it today?”

Leorio is silent, chewing his lip and staring down at the floor.

“I didn’t think so,” Kurapika continues. “So, as I was saying, just treat my injuries and let me be on my way.”

Leorio looks like he wants to say something, but thinks better of it. Wordlessly, he brings a tray with the syringe, some antiseptic, and sutures over to Kurapika.

“Numbing agent for the pain, sutures for the gash above your eye. I took care of everything else while you were out, but I didn’t want to risk a needle that close to your eye in case you were to move suddenly.”

“Thank you,” Kurapika says, tone neutral. They can keep this professional. Just a doctor treating a patient. No need to complicate things.

“Lie back and don’t move, alright?”

For as large as they are, Leorio’s hands are incredibly gentle. They dab lightly at the cut with the antiseptic, inject the numbing agent almost painlessly, and stitch the wound closed steadily. As angry as he is, Leorio’s still determined not to cause Kurapika any pain, still determined to spare Kurapika any unnecessary suffering, still touching him gently. Kurapika’s chest clenches oddly at the thought.

“Well, you’re done,” Leorio says at last. His mouth is tense around the corners. “I’m gonna keep you here for at least two more days to rest up and heal. You need to tell me if anything feels off. If you're in a lot of pain or start running a fever. Don't try to act tough. A spike in pain could mean an infection, and it doesn't matter how much of a badass you think you are; sepsis will still knock you on your ass. So tell me if something changes. I mean it."

"I will. Thank you."

Leorio gathers the supplies and disposes of them in the various designated trash cans in the corner of the infirmary, then washes his hands. It's that methodical routine of a doctor. Leorio is normally not one to focus on details, but with his patients, he's meticulous. It's something Kurapika admires about him.

Leorio goes to leave the room, but he pauses with his hand on the door knob. He lowers his head and breathes deeply.

"I'm just going to say this once," he says, voice low and head still bowed. "What you're doing, it's more than just stupid. It's reckless and cruel and extremely selfish."

"Selfish?" Kurapika demands.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

“I don't know from where you're possibly getting that idea. I'm not hurting anyone. It’s my life, Leorio. I can use it however I please.”

Leorio spins around and looks at Kurapika, his eyes wide and bright.

“Did it not occur to you that other people care about that life?” he demands. “Are you really that insufferably self-centered that you can’t fathom anyone else giving a good goddamn about whether you live or die?”

Kurapika stares at the ceiling and sighs.

"I can't expect you to understand."

Leorio laughs, harsh and humorless.

"No. You know what? I'm done letting you use what happened to you as an excuse for disregarding the feelings of people who care about you. We've all lost people, Kurapika. It's not a free pass to act like an asshole."

"I didn't lose 'people,' Leorio," Kurapika spits. "I lost everyone. Everyone. Do you really understand what that means? Every single person I knew. Every single person I cared about. They were hunted like animals. I'm alone. Everyone I ever loved is gone."

"No!" Leorio shouts. "You're not alone! There are still people who love you! I'm one of them, you fucking idiot!"

"Don't take that tone with me!"

Kurapika swings his legs around the side of the cot and tries to push himself to his feet, because he, quite literally, refuses to take this lying down. His ribs protest the movement, but he pushes through the pain, gritting his teeth and giving himself a final shove. The moment he's standing, however, the whole room starts to tilt violently to the left and his vision blurs and his knees go weak and he begins to fall.

But when he collapses, it's not onto the floor. It's into Leorio's arms, broad and strong, catching him and scooping him up as if he didn't weigh a thing and putting him back into bed. Kurapika is just about the snap that he doesn't need to be carried like a child, Leorio, really, but he stops as soon as he sees Leorio's face.

"You're crying," Kurapika says softly.

"Yeah," Leorio replies, wiping roughly at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Thanks for pointing that one out."

"Why?"

Leorio laughs incredulously.

"Why? Because I'm worried about you. Please, try to understand that. When you're hurt, when something bad happens to you, there are people who are going to cry. I don't..."

Leorio pauses for a long moment.

"I don't want to live without you," he says at last, very softly. "When I picture the future, when I'm old and grey and even crankier than I am now, I want you beside me. And I know I just lost two years of that imagined future. I'm sorry for shouting at you, especially just when you'd woken up. I just thought about that future, about not having it, and it felt awful. But I'm sorry."

Careful of his sore ribs, Kurapika brings up a hand to cradle Leorio's face, gently stroking his cheekbone with his thumb.

"Me too," he says. "Whatever future I have, I want you in it."

Leorio leans forward and presses a kiss to Kurapika's forehead an inch away from the sutures. Kurapika suddenly gets very hot.

"Make no mistake--I'm still furious," Leorio says. "And this is not the last time we're having this conversation."

"Of course it isn't," Kurapika replies, tone far fonder than he had intended.

Leorio eases Kurapika down onto the pillows and pulls up the blankets like a doting mother. Kurapika can't even find it within himself to be annoyed.

"Get some sleep, Peeks," Leorio murmurs, pushing back Kurapika's hair and pressing another kiss to his forehead. And, Kurapika thinks, as exhaustion begins to overtake him, with Leorio asking so nicely, how could he resist?

**Author's Note:**

> infinite love & gratitude, replying to comments, available via [tumblr](https://storybookprincess.tumblr.com/), etc etc. you know it all by now. xo


End file.
